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Hockey

Veteran Maple Leafs Bozak and van Riemsdyk remain key contributors

Though the colts are running loose for the Maple Leafs, they should not put Tyler Bozak and James van Riemsdyk out to pasture just yet.

While the forwards were not considered vital parts of the Shanaplan rebuild a couple of years ago, the Brian Burke-era holdovers figured in the first two goals for Toronto in its 7-2 decimation of the Winnipeg Jets in Wednesday’s season opener.

Before Auston Matthews had a shot on goal, and prior to William Nylander’s insurance marker late in the first period, Bozak and van Riemsdyk were driving the net on Nazem Kadri’s opening goal. Soon after, Bozak won a hard draw from the Jets’ Mark Scheifele, his efforts paying off by getting the puck to a perfectly positioned JVR for a one-timer. The latter also assisted on Mitch Marner’s power-play strike later in the game, while Bozak won 10 of 15 faceoffs to lead all centres in the game.

“We always feel like we can chip in and get off to a good start,” Bozak said. “That was nice, because the young guys will be rolling all year.”

Bozak can remember a time when he, too, had the rookie asterisk beside his name, a member of the Frat Pack, a youth-infused line from the autumn of 2009, when Ron Wilson was patrolling the bench. He centred fellow NCAA stars Viktor Stalberg and Christian Hanson, which was a novelty in the days the Leafs had few prospects up front to show off.

Now it’s Bozak who feels like the village elder, married and a father, dispensing advice. If he and van Riemsdyk keep getting a boost from playing with the creative Marner, that makes the line as vital to the plot as Zach Hyman-Matthews-Nylander and Patrick Marleau-Kadri-Leo Komarov.

“It’s only been one game,” cautioned Bozak of the scoring outburst. “We have a lot of talent, a lot of guys who can score and our defence moves the puck really well and gets shots through. It’s funny, you don’t think (Matthews, Marner, etc.) will get any better, but they do. It’s pretty cool to see and fun to watch them grow. Exciting times.

“Who knows (whether the Leafs can keep all engines running). I think we just have to take it game by game and hope for the best.”

Van Riemsdyk’s future is much cloudier. He's 28, three years younger than Bozak, and heading into the last year of a deal most think the Leafs won’t extend for big money in order to bank cash to sign the cornerstone kids to future mega-deals.

Yet, JVR continues to produce and, while he’s not the team’s strongest defensive forward, he has the size and reach to get those passes Marner manages to deliver in opportune areas.

“It makes it hard for other teams when you have the different groupings that we do that can all chip in offensively and all do good things,” van Riemsdyk said. “We’re comfortable with that and with the different situations in different roles.”

After so many years with Bozak as his centre, they also stand a better chance of pulling off the kind of faceoff play that resulted in Wednesday’s second goal.

“We always try and do stuff like that and it’s great when it works out,” Bozak said. “It’s a little tougher now with the new rules in the circle, but we’ll keep working on that and hopefully more goals will come.”

Bozak has learned to control his temper after getting booted from the dot by the linesmen so often in the pre-season schedule and then again vs. the Jets.

“I’m mad at myself sometimes,” he said of not getting his feet set within the guidelines. “It’s one of those things where you are so used to doing something, you have to do it a different way and in the heat of the moment you forget a little thing and you’re gone. But Mitchy came in there and did a good job taking some draws.”